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Big Air · Expert

Boogie Loop

See it in the Trick Tree

Boogie Loop is a big-air kiteloop flown with an inverted front roll, the rider upside down with the feet above the head while the kite completes a full loop.

Also called: boogieloop · inverted frontroll kiteloop · front roll kiteloop

Prerequisites

Backroll Kiteloop

Unlocks

Doobie Loop

Schools teach this differently

Our sources genuinely disagree on whether the Boogie Loop and the front roll kiteloop are the same move. MACkite says it is the same thing, that Ruben Lenten coined "Boogie loop", and that the name just tends to get saved for the massive ones: "I would call a massive mega loop front roll a boogie and an average one a front roll kiteloop." Ridersguide calls them two different things and separates them by rotation axis: a boogieloop is an inverted rotation around the axis of your spreader bar, a front roll kiteloop spins around the axis of your spine, and it says the chance of a hard crash is lower on the boogieloop. The 2020 IKSURFMAG episode also runs a dedicated "Boogie vs Frontroll kiteloop" chapter, which implies the same distinction. Skill framing diverges too: IKSURFMAG 2020 calls it one of the most extreme kiteloop variations, while the 2025 Alby Rondina tutorial pitches it at intermediate riders.

Ideal conditions

Sourced guidance covers gear more than weather. For first attempts, avoid wind that is too strong and fly a small kite, 7 to 8 m2, so it comes round the loop fast (Ridersguide / Access Kiteboard Magazine, text by Mike McDonald). MACkite advises learning the front roll kiteloop on nothing bigger than an 11m or even 10m, and treats 5 to 6 metre kiteloops as the entry to advanced territory before tricks like the Boogie Loop. No source opened this session gives a knot range or a water-state preference for the Boogie Loop itself.

How to do it

  1. 1. Earn it first

    • Get your high kiteloops solid with a proper takeoff and real edge control. Riding too far downwind bleeds the tension out of your lines.
    • While you drill those plain kiteloops, pull the loop at around 80 percent of your jump height with the kite at noon or just before noon.
    • Ride inverted front rolls until they are smooth: head thrown over the front shoulder, back leg driven up, board touching the lines so you know the rotation is deep enough.
    • Take those inverted front rolls higher before you add any loop. Ridersguide puts it flatly: if you cannot do a high inverted front roll, do not start on a boogieloop.
    • Have kiteloops, front rolls and back roll kiteloops locked in before you commit to this one.

  2. 2. Approach and pop

    • Come in with real speed and steer the kite hard. Easing off because you are a bit scared is the natural thing to do, and it is exactly what keeps the jump too low to finish.
    • Hold the edge all the way in. The moment you run off downwind you lose the line tension the trick runs on.
    • Start the inverted front roll right at the pop, with no pause.
    • Lock the core tight and keep the knees bent as you leave the water.
    • Set your body at a right angle to the kite so you are already positioned for the pull the kite gives you during the loop.

  3. 3. Invert, then pull the loop

    • Throw the head over the front shoulder and drive the back leg up so you turn around the axis of your spreader bar rather than spinning around your spine.
    • Rotate slowly. Spin too fast and you are already rotated while you are still going up, and you lose your balance.
    • Hit the peak of the jump fully inverted, feet above your head, before you touch the loop.
    • Pull the loop mid-flight. Too early and the kite has too much power, too late and it has too little left to catch you.
    • Crank the bar with maximum force even though it sits close to your body while you are upside down. Without that force the kite loops too slowly and too low.
    • Commit to being blind. You are flipping one way while the kite goes the other.

  4. 4. Slow the spin and land

    • Spot your landing over the back shoulder.
    • Squeeze the core and draw the legs in slightly. That also slows your rotation.
    • Sheet out on the bar as you come down. A sheeted-out bar works like a parachute and catches you as you fall.
    • As the landing spot comes into view, pull the front leg in a little to soak up the hit and land smoothly.
    • Put the board down flat with the nose pointing downwind.

Common mistakes and fixes

Mistake

Backing off your speed because the trick scares you.

Fix

Keep the speed on and keep steering the kite hard. Without both you never get high enough to finish the jump.

Mistake

Rotating too fast off the pop.

Fix

Slow the rotation down. Spin too quickly and you are already rotated while you are still on the way up, and you come out of balance.

Mistake

A soft pull on the bar while inverted, so the kite loops slowly and low.

Fix

Give it a maximum pull. Upside down the bar sits close to your body and it is genuinely harder to put force through it, which is exactly why the kite ends up turning too slow and too low.

Mistake

Initiating the kiteloop too early.

Fix

Wait until you are in control and have a bit of height. Loop too early and you just get pulled.

Mistake

Jumping straight to the boogie without the high inverted front roll dialled.

Fix

Go back down the progression. High kiteloop, then inverted front roll, then high inverted front roll, then the boogie.

If it goes wrong

  • Treat it as genuinely dangerous. Ridersguide opens with a warning that this is a move you do not want to mess about with and that you can get seriously injured; IKSURFMAG runs its tutorial under a WARNING: Dangerous headline.
  • Do not do the first ones in wind that is too strong.
  • Use a small kite for the first tries, a 7 or 8 m2, so the kite gets round the loop quickly.
  • Check you have ample room to get pulled back and downwind by a looping kite without ruining anybody else's afternoon.
  • If you are coming down badly, sheet out. The bar sheeted out acts like a parachute and catches you as you fall.

Learn this with a coach, not from a page

This is a high-consequence move. The sources it is built from describe riders getting hurt on it, and every one of them teaches it as a step you earn rather than attempt. Get coaching, build up in stages, ride with people who can help you, and give yourself deep water and clear space downwind.

Find a certified school

Educational reference, not instruction. Kitesurfing is a risk sport: the steps here describe what named schools, instructors and technique libraries teach, and the page lists exactly which ones, but real conditions involve wind, gusts, water state, traffic and equipment behaviour that no written guide accounts for. Schools also teach justified variations — where our sources disagree, the page says so instead of picking one. Judge your own readiness, use the safety systems on your kite, and do not attempt a move because a page made it sound achievable. KitesurfingOfficial accepts no liability for the use of this information on the water.

Questions riders ask

What is a Boogie Loop, exactly?+

A kiteloop with an inverted front roll. You end up upside down with your feet above your head, rotating forward, while you steer the kite through a full loop. IKSURFMAG calls it one of the most extreme kiteloop variations.

Is a Boogie Loop the same thing as a front roll kiteloop?+

The sources split on this. MACkite says it is the same thing, that Ruben Lenten coined the name Boogie loop, and that riders tend to save the word for the massive ones. Ridersguide calls them two different tricks: the boogie is an inverted rotation around the spreader-bar axis, the front roll kiteloop spins around your spine.

What do I need on lock before I try one?+

Kiteloops, front rolls and back roll kiteloops, per MACkite. Ridersguide adds a four-step ladder: high kiteloop, inverted front roll, high inverted front roll, then the boogie, and says outright that if you cannot do a high inverted front roll you should not start on a boogieloop.

What kite should I be on?+

For the first attempts Ridersguide says a small kite, a 7 or 8 m2, so it gets round the loop quickly, and to stay out of wind that is too strong. For the front roll kiteloop MACkite says learn on nothing bigger than an 11m or even a 10m, and points advanced riders at crossover C-hybrid kites.

What is the scary part?+

You loop the kite while inverted and blind. MACkite describes it as pure commitment, flipping one way and looping the other, completely blind to the kite. Ridersguide adds that in an inverted rotation the bar sits close to your body, so it is harder to put force through it at exactly the moment the loop needs it.

What is it called if you do two of the rotations?+

A doobie loop. North Action Sports says that if you do two inverted front rolls at the critical moment, it is called a doobie loop.

Keep reading

Sources

Every step on this page traces to the sources below. Where they disagree or stay silent, the page says so instead of guessing.